World in Brief

Published: August 18, 2011 8:30AM

AP sources: US demand for Syrian President Assad to leave power is imminent

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say the Obama administration is ready to make an explicit call for Syrian President Bashar Assad to leave power and has notified Arab and European allies that an announcement is imminent.

The timing is still in flux but preparations are in place for the White House to issue a statement Thursday demanding that Assad step down, the officials said. This would be accompanied by an announcement of new sanctions on the Assad regime and followed by an on-camera appearance by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to reinforce the U.S. position, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

Although the officials acknowledged the move is not likely to have any immediate impact on the Syrian regime's behavior, they said it would send a powerful signal that Assad is no longer welcome in the international community. And they noted that the additional sanctions would further boost pressure on Assad and his inner circle.

As Syrian protesters have called for an end to his regime, Assad has unleashed tanks and ground troops in an attempt to retake control in rebellious areas. The military assault has escalated dramatically since the start of the holy month of Ramadan in August, with Assad's forces killing hundreds and detaining thousands.

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New disability evaluation system has war wounded facing bureaucracy to leave military

WASHINGTON (AP) — Staff Sgt. Nicholas Lanier has entered what he calls the “vast unknown.” A combat veteran and father to four daughters, he can't remain in the military because of a serious back injury earned in Iraq.

But he can't yet accept a civilian job because he doesn't know when the military will discharge him. He has no clue how much the government will pay him in disability compensation related to his injury, so he can't make a future budget. He just waits.

“I don't have any idea what the end stat is going to be on the other side. When you have a family and you are trying to plan for the future, that's going to affect a lot of things,” said Lanier, a 37-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Stewart, Ga., who walks with a limp because of related nerve damage. “The only known is that it takes time.”

Thousands of troops are like Lanier: not fully fit to serve but in limbo for about two years waiting to get discharged under a new system that was supposed to be more efficient than its predecessor. And the delays are not only affecting service members, but the military's readiness as well. New troops can't enlist until others are discharged.

The government determines the pay and benefits given to wounded, sick or injured troops for their military service. Under the old system, a medical board would determine their level of military compensation and the service member would be discharged. Then the veteran essentially would have to go through the process again with the Veterans Affairs Department to determine benefits. While they waited for their VA claim to be processed, many of the war wounded were going broke.

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Pakistan military says it can bring militant network Haqqani to peace talks, but no one asking

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan's military says it can bring the notorious Haqqani militant network, considered one of the most lethal threats against U.S.-led coalition troops in Afghanistan, to the negotiation table.

Instead, Washington is pushing Pakistan to carry out military assaults against Haqqani hideouts in the tribal regions.

The network is affiliated with the Taliban and al-Qaida and blamed for most of the major attacks in Afghanistan, particularly the often brazen assaults on the capital Kabul. It has been described as the glue that binds together the militant groups operating in Pakistan's tribal North Waziristan.

“The Haqqani network has been more important to the development and sustainment of al-Qaida and the global jihad than any other single actor or group,” a study released earlier this month by West Point's Combatting Terrorism Center said.

A senior Pakistani military officer now says that Pakistan can deliver the Haqqani network to the negotiation table. Pakistan has kept open communication lines with Jalaluddin Haqqani, the elderly leader of the al-Qaida aligned network. The officer spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.

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Police: Tampa teen accused of plotting to bomb school that expelled him had run-ins with law

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — At 17 years old, Jared Cano had been expelled and had several run-ins with the law, though none of the charges from burglary to drug possession had been pressed.

When Tampa police, who periodically checked on the teen because of his troubled past, were tipped off that Cano was plotting to bomb the school that had kicked him out a year earlier, they thought the information was plausible enough that they knocked on his apartment door and his mother let them search the place.

Cano had amassed shrapnel, plastic tubing, timing and fuse devices to make pipe bombs, all for a plot in which he intended to cause more casualties than the Columbine High School massacre where 13 were killed before the two student attackers killed themselves, police said Wednesday.

Police and the school system “were probably able to thwart a potentially catastrophic event, the likes of which the city of Tampa has not seen, and hopefully never will,” Police Chief Jane Castor said.

Before Tuesday's discovery, Cano had been arrested several times, most recently accused of breaking into a house and stealing a handgun, Tampa police said. He had a court-ordered curfew and was on a police watch list.

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) — Jeff Swanson was in the market for a new car just a few weeks ago. Then the stock market went crazy.

So Swanson, 25, decided to keep his 10-year-old Pontiac Grand Prix for at least another year. Gyrations in stocks and talk of a weakening economy rattled Swanson's confidence about taking on another payment, even though his new job running a home for mentally disabled people seems to be secure.

“Everywhere you turn, other people are saying 'Oh, I lost my job this week. I lost my job last week,'” says Swanson, who works for a non-profit that gets money from the state. “I want to be a little bit financially set in case something like that happens.”

It's an increasingly common reaction among would-be car buyers that has dealers and automakers worried. In May, many believed sales would reach a healthy 13.5 million this year — halfway between their peak in 2005 and their 30-year low in 2009. Now, such forecasts seem overly optimistic. Analysts say the swoon in financial markets and economic uncertainty could reduce auto sales by a few percentage points, shrink earnings and delay hiring in an industry that has been a recent leader in job creation.

“If it keeps going this way, yes, it's going to hurt business,” says Jerry Seiner, who runs a group of dealerships in the Salt Lake City area that includes General Motors, Nissan and Kia.

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SPIN METER: Special-interest money that's bad for the president is good for some in his party

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has sworn off special-interest money to pay for his re-election bid. But it turns out those dollars are fair game for congressional Democrats — to the tune of millions.

An Associated Press analysis of campaign fundraising found that Democrats who are trying to regain control of the House next fall have raked in more than $15 million from political action committees this year, raising money from special interests even as Obama, the Democratic standard bearer, promotes his ban on such funds.

More than $1 million of that money flowed to the re-election committees of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

Democratic leaders gloss over all that when they pressure the GOP presidential candidates to disclose their top donors, and even go so far as to trumpet the fact that Obama's campaign and the DNC don't take money from registered federal lobbyists and political action committees.

“The refusal to accept donations from federal lobbyists and PACs is critical to limiting the influence of special interests in the political process,” Wasserman Schultz said in a recent conference call with reporters. “Unfortunately, every single Republican candidate for president today happily accepts donations from lobbyists and PACs.”

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Pope arrives in Spain in time of turmoil, mounting youth frustrations — on World Youth Day

MADRID (AP) — When the pope arrives in Spain, it's not just sweltering heat he'll be stepping into. The economy's in a shambles. Jobless youths are filled with rage and frustration. Politicians are gearing up for early elections that will be dominated by these hard times.

Benedict XVI departed Rome Thursday morning for a four-day visit to greet up to a million or more young pilgrims from around the planet for the Catholic Church's World Youth Day.

The pope's attendance shows how much a priority he places on this economically troubled country, which has departed sharply from its Catholic traditions and embraced hedonism and secularism. In the economic bust, he may be hoping to lure back some of his straying flock.

This will be the third time the pontiff has visited Spain since his papacy began in 2005, and the second in less than a year.

But many Spaniards take issue with the hoopla and hefty cost.

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NH prosecutors to offer reward for information about girl's suspicious death

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Eager for any information that can help them resolve the suspicious death of 11-year-old Celina Cass, New Hampshire prosecutors are now offering a reward.

The Attorney General's Office will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. Thursday to discuss the reward and make a plea for information. The FBI offered a $25,000 reward before Celina's body was found. It is unclear if the reward being announced Thursday will supplement or replace it.

It has been more than two weeks since searchers pulled Celina's body from the Connecticut River near her house, and the lack of an arrest and answers to questions about how she died have cast a pall over her hometown.

Sad and edgy, residents of Stewartstown are waiting — for answers about the girl, justice for her family, peace of mind for themselves. The police's inability to charge a suspect, an autopsy that couldn't pinpoint what killed her and the lingering fear that a killer is at large are hanging over folks in the one-stoplight burg with 960 residents near the Canadian border.

“Everybody's still uncomfortable, wanting some answers,” said Shannon Towle, whose family owns a convenience store and gas station where people gather. “It's just creepy.”

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Contributor to a jihadist website threatens late-night host David Letterman over joke

NEW YORK (AP) — A frequent contributor to a jihadist website has threatened David Letterman, urging Muslim followers to “cut the tongue” of the late-night host because of a joke the comic made on his CBS show.

The Site Monitoring Service, a private intelligence organization that watches online activity, said Wednesday that the threat was posted a day earlier on the Shumuka al-Islam forum, a popular Internet destination for radical Muslims.

The contributor, who identified himself as Umar al-Basrawi, was reacting to what he said Letterman did after the U.S. military announced on June 5 that a drone strike in Pakistan had killed al-Qaida leader Ilyas Kashmiri.

Al-Basrawi wrote that Letterman had made reference to both Osama bin Laden and Kashmiri and said that Letterman had “put his hand on his neck and demonstrated the way of slaughter.”

“Is there not among you a Sayyid Nosair al-Mairi ... to cut the tongue of this lowly Jew and shut it forever?” Al-Basrawi wrote, referring to El Sayyid Nosair, who was convicted of the 1990 killing of Jewish Defense League founder Meir Kahane. Letterman is not Jewish.

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In wake of Miami allegations, NCAA talks about 'fundamental change' in college athletics

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — The latest scandalous allegations in college football — this time at the University of Miami — have renewed talk by the NCAA of the need for “fundamental change” in athletics.

And Hurricanes officials say they're eager to resolve the case.

Former booster Nevin Shapiro, now serving 20 years in federal prison for his role in a Ponzi scheme, claims he provided Miami players with prostitutes, cars and other gifts over the past decade.

“If the assertions are true, the alleged conduct at the University of Miami is an illustration of the need for serious and fundamental change in many critical aspects of college sports,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said in a statement.

In the past 18 months, football teams at Southern California, Ohio State, Auburn, Oregon, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and LSU have been investigated or sanctioned by the NCAA.